What to do when making drains or pipe remedies and set up by yourself
What to do when making drains or pipe remedies and set up by yourself
Before starting any plumbing and drainage work yourself you should find out about any Local Authority regulations that relate to your area.
If you are changing your current drainage, or installing a new system, you will most definitely be asked to show detailed plans of the implementation that you have in mind and it will need to be overseen as the work moves forward to ensure that it is compliant with local building rules. In most cases they do not need to be notified for a simple replacement of broken parts.
Surface water is basically water from rain and is handled differently from dark waste water in a modern drainage development. It can drain out through a soakaway, watercourse, surface water sewer or, especially in older houses, into the dirty water sewage pipes. If gully traps are fixed at the junction of the rainwater pipe and the waste water drain, foul odour can be controlled. Nowadays hygiene and recycling considerations have led to a mandatory separation of surface water and sewage water. Foul water should never be connected to surface water sewage system with any new drainage development you undertake. When in doubt about the how the modern sewage system works, consult the Building Control Department.
Before you begin, you will need to plan the route of the waste pipes. The basic thing which you have to care about is to keep the route as straight and short as you can while designing the route of a waste or soil pipe, this will help to reduce the likelihood of stoppages. The pipes should run straight with a gentle incline. Use a surveyor’s leveling tool to set out the slope of the drain trench. Or just fill a transparent hosepipe with water and use the water level at the two ends to mark the required fall from the starting point.
You will need to ensure that you do not impact on the stability of the house whilst installing your drain trench. You have to make sure that no building foundation is undermined if you are laying a drain pipe running parallel to the building.
The pipes should be laid before too long a trench is dug as a new trench can be unstable. The pipes should be laid quickly and the trench back filled after the system has been examined thoroughly and tested as required.
Weak soil may require that you shore up the walls of the excavation, particularly for deeper trenches. It is advisable to take proper precautions. Be on the safe side and secure the sides of such risky trenches by propping with sheets or boards. You must make the trench as narrow as possible while leaving enough room to work inside it. Protruding stones or bricks should not be left in the base and it should be cleaned to provide a smooth, regular surface. You may need to import a suitable material for the base of the trench if the existing material is unsuitable.
Bricks and/or any other sturdy material should never be used to prop up the pipe in the trench. This should not be used as employing this type of material as a temporary or permanent pipe support will damage the pipe. The material used for bedding should be firmly compacted down with a depression created to allow the joints in the pipes to fit easily. A good guideline is that support should be provided for the entire length of the pipe.
When designing your sewage system, it is important to make all parts of the pipework reachable via a set of drain rods should a blockage occur. Which means that a run of drains must be installed straight between two points. As a rule of thumb, a directional change in the pipework must have an inspection chamber for rodding access as drain rods do no go around corners.
If you follow this guidance, sewage and DIY plumbing can be within the range of the most DIY enthusiasts.